Ladbrokes Tip: The Chairman’s Handicap has produced more Sydney Cup winners than any other lead-up race

The Sydney Cup is one of four Group 1 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival features held on Day 2 of The Championships at Royal Randwick Racecourse on the second Saturday in April* each season.

*In 2021 the Sydney Cup ran on the third Saturday of April with all race meetings of the autumn in Sydney from Slipper Day onwards postponed a week due to the weather.

The meeting’s headline race is also the The Championship’s richest – the Group 1 $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m). The Sydney Cup is another lucrative clash offering a total of $2 million in prize money including $1.2 million to the Sydney Cup winner.

In 2020 the Sydney Cup prize money was reduced to $1 million with $580,000 for the winner due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned to $2 million for the 2021 edition. 

Run over 3200m the two mile classic is held over the same distance as the ‘race that stops a nation’ – the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on the first Tuesday of November in the spring. Stayers in the Sydney Cup field face off under handicap conditions with the lowest handicap weight being 50kgs, or 48kgs for the three-year-olds. Winners of the Chipping Norton Stakes and Tancred Stakes (formerly The BMW) are exempt from Sydney Cup ballot.

The traditional lead-up to the Sydney Cup is the Group 2 Chairman’s Handicap (2600m) run the previous Saturday and that also offers a ballot and penalty exemption for the Group 1 back at the track the following weekend.

The last horse to complete the Chairman’s Handicap – Sydney Cup double was the Gai Waterhouse-trained The Offer (2014).

The 2021 Sydney Cup took place at Royal Randwick on Saturday April 17, 2021 and was won by Selino in an upset for now five-time winning trainer Chris Waller. 

Sydney Cup Race Info

• Date: Saturday April 17, 2021
• Track: Royal Randwick Racecourse
• Distance: 3200m
• Conditions: Handicap
• Status: Group 1
• Prize Money: $2 million 
• First Run: 1862

2021 Sydney Cup Results

The 2021 Sydney Cup results and finishing order will be confirmed on Saturday April 17, 2021 and announced below as soon as available.

• 1st: #16 Selino
• 2nd: #11 Rondinella
• 3rd: #7 Miami Bound

The Chris Waller-trained import Selino ($26) was flying on just 50kg to hit the front early on the home straight and run on for a strong win in an upset 2021 Sydney Cup result. 

Sydney Cup Betting & Odds

Sydney Cup betting is led each year by the best performing stayers in the Chairman’s Handicap held only seven days earlier on Day 1 of The Championships.

Horses that ran in the first four in their lead-up runs have a top record in the classic and so always feature highly up the Sydney Cup odds as do gallopers with proven two mile form.

Only four Sydney Cup winners since 1983 have come off a lead-up run outside of Sydney with the former Kiwi-trained mare Etah James (2020) having run fourth in the Auckland Cup across the Tasman, the UK raider Polarisation (2017), Adelaide Cup winner Gallic (2007) and Mr. Prudent (2001) who ran third in a Melbourne Group 3 at Caulfield.

Sydney Cup favourites have a solid record in the race over the past decade with six saluting for the punters from 2005 – 2021 most recently The Offer (2014).

Older gallopers also run well in the race with five seven-year-old winners including Etah James (2020), one eight-year-old veteran and Who Shot The Barman (2018) winning at nine years of age from 2006 – 2020.

2021 Sydney Cup Odds

The Sydney Cup 2021 betting odds will be published below as soon as markets on the Group 1 two mile classic are open.

Grand Marshal (2015) won at Sydney Cup odds of $41 in an upset autumn Group 1 result. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

The Sydney Cup field attracts the season’s best stayers coming out of the Chairman’s Handicap the previous weekend also held at Randwick.

The Chairman’s Handicap has produced more Sydney Cup winners than any other lead-up race with The Offer (2014) the latest to do the double.

Sydney Cup nominations close on a Monday in early February before first acceptances are taken a month later.

The final Sydney Cup field of acceptors and barrier draw are then out on the Tuesday before the race and often attracts horses that have previous two mile form in races like the Adelaide Cup in March and the spring’s iconic Melbourne Cup.

2021 Sydney Cup Field

The Sydney Cup 2021 field and barrier draw will be announced by Racing NSW on the Tuesday leading-up to race day and published in full below.

Sixteen stayers make-up the 2021 Sydney Cup field this autumn including eleventh hour inclusion Quick Thinker coming off a Chairman’s Quality win last weekend and former VRC Oaks winner Miami Bound. 

• Scratchings: #4 Quick Thinker (14); #6 Shraaoh (11) 

2021 Sydney Cup Nominations

The 2021 Sydney Cup nominations closed on Tuesday the 9th of February, 2021 attracting 105 stayers led in betting by the Hawkes Racing-trained import Mount Popa. 

2021 Sydney Cup First Acceptances

Sydney Cup first acceptances are taken in early March a month after the original nominations and about four weeks out from race day.

The 2021 Sydney Cup first acceptances closed at 12:00pm (local Sydney time) on Tuesday the 9th of March, 2021 and left 57 stayers led in updated betting by former VRC Oaks champion Miami Bound. 

Sydney Cup Tips

Sydney Cup tips favour proven stayers with good lead-up form at Randwick or Rosehill, especially those that ran well in the previous weekend’s Chairman’s Handicap.

Horses carrying between 52kg and 55.5kg also make for a top Sydney Cup tip with only two winners since 2000 carrying more than that to victory with Gallic (56kg in 2007) and Mourayan (58kg in 2013).

Three-year-olds have poor form in the race with just two wins since 1983 most recently Tie The Knot (1998) for his first, while the last mare to win was Jessicabeel (2010).

2021 Sydney Cup Tips

Our Ladbrokes’ exclusive Sydney Cup 2021 betting tips and exotic selections on the two mile autumn classic will be detailed below the week of the race so stay tuned for the stayers to back and sack in this year’s Sydney Cup trifecta.

• To Win: #7 Miami Bound ($9 at time of publish) 

An open edition of the Sydney Cup and like the price and lead-up run by Danny O’Brien’s former VRC Oaks winner Miami Bound. The now four-year-old daughter of Reliable Man raced up to her best form last time out when third at huge odds in the Tancred Stakes. She comes back five kilos to 51.5kg for this and looks one of the best suited to the 3200m. Forget the Sandown Cup run over the distance last spring, she had too much weight (58.5kg) and will be better here with Craig Williams aboard. 

Sydney Cup Form Guide

The Sydney Cup form guide gives punters all the information they need pre-betting including the trainers, jockeys, weights and barriers for all the horses in the field.

Looking at the Sydney Cup lead-up form is important with gallopers that finished top four in their final lead-up runs dominating the race, while the Chairman’s Handicap is the best form line for the two mile showdown.

Trainer Chris Waller has prepared five Sydney Cup winners in the past decade with Stand To Gain (2011), Grand Marshal (2015), Who Shot Thebarman (2018), Shraaoh (2019) and Selino (2021). 

Jim Cassidy is the leading Sydney Cup jockey with three winning rides to date including on the Chris Waller-trained 40/1 roughie Grand Marshal (2015).

Sydney Cup Form Facts

• The only Sydney Cup winner to finish worse than fourth in their lead-up run since 2006 was Stand To Gain (2011)
• Only five mares have beaten the boys in the Sydney Cup results in the past 30 years most recently Etah James (2020) and Jessicabeel (2010) a decade apart
• Five-year-olds won six of the editions of the Sydney Cup from 2011 – 2021
• In the years from 2008 – 2021 five favourites in Sydney Cup betting saluted for the punters
• The longest priced Sydney Cup winners in the past 30 years were Just A Dancer ($41 in 1991) and Grand Marshal ($41 in 2015)

2021 Sydney Cup Form Guide

A link to our comprehensive Sydney Cup 2021 Form Guide will be provided for punters below the week of the race.

Sydney Cup Results

Sydney Cup results in the past 10 years have been dominated by the favourites.

The longest priced Sydney Cup winners in that time however were Selino ($26 in 2021), Grand Marshall ($41 in 2015) and Stand To Gain ($21 in 2011) so upsets are also not uncommon. Some of the most noteworthy Sydney Cup winners in the past 30 years include The Offer (2014), Jessicabeel (2010) and Makybe Diva (2004).

Sydney Cup Winners